Starting last summer, many people picked the Detroit Lions to win this season’s Super Bowl, and even after the Lions lost many players on defense to injury, the team remained the favorites in the minds of many to win it all.
But their run came to a disastrous end this past weekend when they fell 45-32 to an upstart Washington Commanders team in the divisional round of the playoffs.
In that game, Detroit committed five turnovers, four of which came from quarterback Jared Goff, who threw three interceptions and had a fumble.
On Fox Sports 1’s “Speak,” former NBA star Paul Pierce said that Goff is to blame for that loss.
.@paulpierce34 blames Jared Goff for the Lions' season ending early
"If we're going to have the same energy for Lamar Jackson when he lose, for Justin Herbert when he lose… let's have the same energy for Goff." pic.twitter.com/gtWs2jJWD7
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) January 22, 2025
Overall, Goff went just 23 of 40 and threw just one touchdown pass, and it came in contrast to what he did in the regular season when he threw for 4,629 yards and 37 touchdowns while completing 72.4 percent of his pass attempts.
While he has raised his game ever since coming to Detroit in a 2021 trade with the Los Angeles Rams, there have always been some doubts about his ability to play well in big games, and all he did on Saturday was confirm those doubts.
It is easy to chalk up this loss partly to Detroit’s hobbled defense, but one now has to start wondering if Goff is capable of delivering the franchise its first Super Bowl championship.
It has now lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who was hired to be the Chicago Bears’ head coach, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who is headed to the New York Jets to be their head coach, and one has to wonder how that will affect the team next season.
NEXT: Adam Schefter Predicts When Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn Will Have New Jobs
